Happy National Holiday of Bulgaria! The Day of the Cyrillic Letters and the Culture

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 24, 2018, Thursday // 10:51
Bulgaria: Happy National Holiday of Bulgaria! The Day of the Cyrillic Letters and the Culture

Happy national holiday! On May 24 we celebrate the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and the Slavonic Scripture. On this day, Bulgaria celebrates the national holiday of education, culture and the creation of the Glagolics by Cyril and Methodius.

The first translations of the holy scriptures by Cyril and Methodius, are recorded in the Glagolics. The first known evidence for the celebration of the holiday are found in an Armenian chronicle from 1813, which mentions the celebration of the holy brothers on 22 May 1803 in Shumen. For the first time on May 11, 1851, a celebration of Cyril and Methodius - creators of the Glagolitic, was organized at the St. Cyril and St. Methodius School in Plovdiv at the initiative of Naiden Gerov. The May 11th is not accidentally chosen by Naiden Gerov - this is the general religious feast of the two saints. In our Bulgarian Renaissance books, the first announcements of the celebration of Cyril and Methodius on May 11 meet in Neofit Rilski's 1852 Slavonic Church Gospel.

In 1857 the day of the "holy brothers" was honored in the Bulgarian church of St. Stephen in Constantinople, together with the service of St. Ivan Rilski. The following year, 1858, this day is also celebrated in Plovdiv with a solemn service in the church of the Virgin Mary, and then the teacher Yoakim Gruev gives an exciting account of the life and work of Cyril and Methodius. The holiday begins regularly to be celebrated in Shumen and Lom, and from 1860 in Skopje. From 1863 on May 11, it was established as a church holiday of the holy apostles Cyril and Methodius. In Sofia, the feast was organized by teacher Sava Filaretov.

During the struggles for church independence from the beginning of the 18th century, the historical work of Cyril and Methodius was not only an incentive but also a case against the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate. It becomes a symbol of future independence, as Hristo Botev notes in one of his articles. The holiday goes beyond the church-school frames of its celebration and becomes a national holiday. After 1878 the celebration of Cyril and Methodius developed in two directions. In free Bulgaria it is limited to a school holiday. In Macedonia and Edirne, however, it retains its functions of demonstrating Bulgarians in their struggle against Turkish rule as well as against the assimilation of the Serbian and Greek propaganda. Of particular importance is the celebration of Cyril and Methodius after the First World War.

With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1916, the celebration, celebrated by the state and the church, is celebrated on one day - May 24th. After 1969, secularization took place by separating the church from the secular calendar, so today there are two feasts - church (May 11) and secular (24 May). For the official holiday of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, 24 May was announced by decision of the Ninth National Assembly on March 30, 1990, and from 15 November 1990, when the People's Republic of Bulgaria was renamed to the Republic of Bulgaria, is an official national holiday.

The earliest dates for celebrating 11 May as the day of the holy apostles and enlighters Cyril and Methodius date back to the 12th century and were recognized as saints already at the end of the 9th century. Separately St. Cyril's memory is celebrated on February 14, and St. Methodius on April 6 (the days of their death). The All-Russian Synod on the occasion of celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Moravian mission of St. St. Cyril and Methodius took the following decision: "For the memory of the millennium since the initiation of our father's tongue through the gospel and the faith of Christ, it was to be established annually starting from 1863 on May 11 as a religious feast of the reverend Cyril and Methodius! " Then the celebration is celebrated in all Orthodox Slavic countries.

The General Feast of St. St. Cyril and Methodius is celebrated by the Bulgarian Church in the following centuries, and during the Renaissance it becomes a school holiday of the letters. The feast of St. St. Cyril and Methodius is celebrated during the Renaissance not only in the Bulgarian lands, but also abroad - among the Renaissance immigration in Romania and Russia, among the Bulgarian students abroad, among the Bulgarians who were exiled in Diyarbakir. In 1856, Joakim Gruev offers the day of St. St. Cyril and Methodius to be celebrated as a holiday of Bulgarian students.

In 1892, Stoyan Mihaylovski wrote the lyrics of the school anthem with his first verse, "Walk, Peoples Revived". The anthem is titled "Hymn of St. Cyril and Methodius" and includes 14 pairs, of which the most often the first six are performed today. Panayot Pipkov created the music to the anthem on 11.05.1900. May 11th is celebrated by the Orthodox Church as a feast of St. Cyril and Methodius, while May 24th has established itself as a celebration of Slavic script, of Bulgarian education and culture.

May 24 as a holiday of the Slavic script and of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius is also celebrated in Russia. It was first celebrated in 1986 at the initiative of the Murman writer Vitaly Maslov. Murmansk is the northernmost point where is a the monument to St. Cyril and Methodius. The brothers are canonized as saints for the translation and popularization of the Bible in the Old Slavic language (gaining popularity in its Russian version as Church Slavonic, Church Slavonic) and spreading Christianity among the Slavs. They were proclaimed by the pope as patrons of Europe. The Orthodox Church also honors them as one of the holy Seventh-day Adventists.

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Tags: Natioanal Holiday, Bulgaria

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